A standard motor-vehicle door latch has a keeper on the door post and a latching bolt on the door. The latching bolt is typically a fork pivotal about a horizontal axis in the plane of the door and having a pair of arms forming a radially open notch. The keeper is basically a structure forming an eye or vertically open hole into which the innermost of the two fork arms engages when the door is shut. Unlike the fork which pivots on the door, the keeper is essentially fixed on and does not move relative to the door post it is mounted on. When the latch fork is engaged through the keeper, the door is held shut by the outer surface of the inner arm of the fork. The outer arm of the fork serves principally to actuate and pivot in the inner arm as the door closes.
Clearly, therefore, the outer edge of the hole in the keeper through which the fork arm engages is subject to considerable wear. Accordingly it is known from German Pat. No. 2,725,345 to form the keeper as a U-shaped sheet metal body formed by a pair of sides joined at one end by a bight concave away from the door and having at their opposite ends outwardly directed flanges bolted to the door post. This keeper frame houses an elastomeric bumper insert having end flanges that engage past the ends of the frame to hold this insert in place. Both the frame and the insert define the normally vertically open passage through which the inner fork arm engages to hold the door shut.
In order to hold the door tight the elastomeric insert is formed with a head projecting into the eye and engaging over the outer edges of the hole in the frame, so that the fork actually bears on this enlarged unitary head of the insert rather than on the frame. The deformation of this compressible body therefore provides the cushion that keeps the door tight in its opening and prevents it from rattling.
Obviously, however, this part of the insert is subject to considerable stress and deformation, which is even worse in systems with servo-controlled door latches such as described in German patent document No. 3,150,621 or in arrangements where the door handle is pushed to unlock the door. Thus the insert can wear out rather rapidly so that the respective door will not sit tight in its opening. Repair of the part is normally fairly difficult, so that the entire part is simply replaced.